Energy-saving driving promotion system and method

• US 7,853,391 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2008
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsuge, Sadamu, Okane, Yukihiro, Yamada, Takeshi, Adachi, Akito, Komeda, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith; Jack
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khatib; Rami
• Application Number:
  US12/061,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20080319601A1
• Time in Patent Office: 985 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/70, 701/99, 701/101, 701/110, 701/123, 73/13.7, 734/88, 340/463, 340/467, 340/669
• US Class Current: 701/99
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/10 related to vehicle motion

Abstract

An energy-saving driving promotion system includes: a vehicle state detecting device; a current value calculating device that calculates a current value associated with an accelerator operation amount or a vehicle drive power; a recommended value calculating device that calculates a recommended value associated with the accelerator operation amount or the vehicle drive power; an indicator device that indicates a relationship between the calculated recommended value and the calculated current value; and an acceleration intention determining device that determines whether a driver intends to accelerate. If the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate, the recommended value calculating device calculates a larger recommended value when the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate than when the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver does not intend to accelerate.

Claims

1. An energy-saving driving promotion system comprising:

a vehicle state detecting device configured to detect a vehicle state;

a current value calculating device configured to calculate a current value associated with an accelerator operation amount or a vehicle drive power, based on the detected vehicle state;

a recommended value calculating device configured to calculate a recommended value associated with the accelerator operation amount or the vehicle drive power, based on the detected vehicle state;

an indicator device configured to indicate a relationship between the calculated recommended value and the calculated current value; and

an acceleration intention determining device configured to determine whether a driver intends to accelerate, based on the detected vehicle state,

wherein if the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate, the recommended value calculating device calculates a larger recommended value when the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate than when the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver does not intend to accelerate,

the energy-saving driving promotion system, further comprising;

an index value calculating device configured to calculate an index value indicating a driver'"'"'s intention to accelerate based on the detected vehicle state,

wherein the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate if the index value calculated by the index value calculating device exceeds a predetermined first threshold,

wherein the indicator device is a lamp of which an on-off state changes when the calculated current value exceeds the calculated recommended value,

wherein there is further provided a provisional determination device configured to provisionally determine that the driver intends to accelerate if the index value calculated by the index value calculating device exceeds a second threshold that is smaller than the first threshold, and

wherein if the provisional determination device provisionally determines that the driver intends to accelerate, the on-off state of the lamp remains in a current state for a predetermined period of time.

2. The energy-saving driving promotion system according to claim 1, wherein even if the provisional determination device provisionally determines that the driver intends to accelerate, the on-off state of the lamp changes if, within the predetermined period of time, the acceleration intention determining device determines that the driver intends to accelerate, and the current value exceeds the recommended value that is calculated by the recommended value calculating device when it is determined that the driver intends to accelerate.